"Hinata, I don't know what deal you made with the devil to avoid getting soaked, but I want in." A sopping wet Ino scowled, wringing out her ponytail. Even at twelve, it hung halfway to her waist.
"Um…" Hinata glanced at the paw prints that had appeared in the soft dirt around the tree and refrained from saying anything else.
Sakura huffed, "We've got to get food before nighttime. If it keeps raining then, we'll never be able to get anything done with the water and the dark." The survival exercise was going to last three days; they were expected to keep themselves fed until then.
"This works for shelter," Ino said, "There's enough cover here that we won't freeze."
"Fire?" Hinata asked.
"If you can start one in this," Ino said, gesturing at the rain before straightening up.
"We'll get food, you try and find some way to get keep us warm tonight," Sakura said decisively, wiping her hands on the somewhat dry cloth of her skirt.
The girls walked away, leaving the scar-faced Hyuuga to gather all the somewhat damp twigs she could around the tree into a pile. She fumbled with handfuls of dead leaves for a while, but froze when a woody thump registered with her. A fox sat benignly next to a pile of what looked like dry branches, broken into usable pieces for a fire.
"Hello," she said cautiously, a smile stretching over her face. She extended a hand and the animal slunk forward to receive her petting, licking salt off her palm as it did so. "Have we met before?"
She hadn't seen Naruto's face since she came home, but foxes were always around, whether it was to hide her sandals or help her find them again when she was running late to training. Little things - like keeping dry in the rain - were easy for the tricksters, and if they were feeling benevolent, they shared. Other times (she thought back to when she was blamed for two entire fruit carts that tipped over right after she'd tripped near one and one of the creatures had seen an opportunity), not so much.
This one seemed happy to help her out, though, and cheerfully gave a swipe of its tail over her flint and steel when she attempted to light a fire, making the sparks about ten times more potent and causing the leaves to catch immediately. Hinata exhaled and sat down to enjoy the warmth and watch the flames, trying not to think about how the forest floor would leave stains on her pants, and shifted in accommodation when the fox settled into her lap right away.
[-M-]
"Quickly, please!" Hinata yelled, "Water and rations are in the shelters, don't stop to get any, just get inside!"
Civilians streamed in through the small doors holding children and precious belongings. She stifled the small amount of irritation at anyone who carried more than a knick-knack; if she had any relic of her time with Naruto, she'd probably want to carry it, too, even if it was bulky.
A roar shook the foundations of the buildings and Hinata flinched, wanting very badly to go outside and look, but stuck at her post. She had to restrain herself from smacking her own forehead when she remembered her ability. Activated, the Byakugan narrowed in on an enourmous amount of chakra, bigger than anything she'd ever seen before, gathered into the shape of a giant, four-legged animal...with nine tails.
She very badly wanted to believe that wasn't who she thought it was.
'Kyuubi-sama, what have we done to offend you?'
Two tails swung and brought down an entire block of buildings. She had to stop from crying out. Her school was there. What were the chances that children were still in the building?
"Is this where we go?" a panicked man asked her, having spotted her forehead protector.
Through the doors into which a mob of people entering? "Yes, this is the emergency shelter," she replied, keeping her voice soft to try and calm him down and make him think rationally.
He didn't really wait for her reply, just barreled through the line and scrambled inside. She and Shino exchanged quiet looks. It was probably for the best that the man was out from underfoot as quickly as possible, though she didn't want to think what the cramped conditions of the shelter would do for his mental state.
Another roar, this time more like a groan, pierced through Hinata's skull, the sound alone enough to hurt. She'd been playing with foxes that morning and they'd seemed just fine. What was going on?
Not caring if it was unprofessional, she clasped her hands together and prayed.
"Naruto," she whispered, "Please, save my village."
Please save the people that I love. Please save my home.
The sudden disappearance of the heavy chakra that had spread out at the start of the Kyuubi attack brought her to her knees and left her ears ringing. But before she fainted, she was sure she heard the words - a whisper, but like it was said by a crowd of people all at once - Your prayers have been received.
[-M-]
Hinata blinked, staring at the hand that had held a lit stick of incense just before, then at her father, who scowled, the most emotion she'd ever seen on his face.
"Never," he bit out, "Give offerings here again." Then he walked past her, leaving her to stare at the lone stick still smoking on the ground.
In front of her, the small fox statue seemed repentant, but she supposed she was the only one that understood. Abandoning formality, she pressed her hand to her lips, then to the nose of the statue.
"Thank you."
A warm feeling, like a hug, wrapped around her. She closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of forest and tea that had suddenly appeared, knowing without a doubt that the one here with her was Naruto. The scars on her cheek were tingling.
"You're still my patron diety," she whispered to the air. "I don't know what happened, but please be alright. I'll bring you something once the fuss has died down."
Just one voice this time; male and older than she'd expected. Your prayers have been received.
[-M-]
On the day her life changed once again, Hinata was sixteen and shunned as the daydreaming, overly-pious, fox-loving fool of the Hyuuga clan. And she was fighting for her life against her cousin.
Dodging Neji's violent thrusts was getting increasingly difficult, particularly since she was already suffering chakra damage from where he'd managed to strike her back when she thought he wasn't really serious and wanted to talk things out. Now she just wanted to get out of this alive.
Running didn't really work anymore, since she had the speed of a starved kitten and was limping, besides. But fighting when they were so far apart skill-wise was useless, too. So she turned to the forest, hoping to maybe evade him in the winding paths - the chakra and energy the mysterious trees released confused her sometimes, so perhaps, with some faith, they'd aid her now. Even if she hadn't been approached by foxes since the attack.
"Stupid girl," Neji called behind her, "Are you even trying? I can see you through the trees, Hinata-sama!"
"Please stop," she whispered to herself, flinching when he actually seemed to hear her.
"You want me to stop? Use the seal, Hinata-sama!" Neji called, jumping onto a tree branch and standing horizontal to the ground. Black, inky marks were spreading from his neck to his face and the rest of him, adding to his crazed appearance. "Or are you too weak to even rely on what the Main House needs to stay in power?"
"Neji-nii-san, please," she tried, "What's gotten into you?"
"How is it that such a useless, fool girl is meant to lead the most powerful clan in Konoha?"
"How is it that a diety we all worshipped attacked our village and then abandoned us?" she sobbed, "I don't know, Fate is cruel, but nii-san, you have to fight - whatever this is!" She was sure those marks had something to do with this.
"No, Hinata-sama. You have to fight. Here and now, we'll see what Fate has decided for you. If you win, you'll have proven you're worthy of heading the clan. But you won't win." Neji smirked, launched himself into the air, began his descent towards her - and dissapeared.
Hinata blinked. Was she just seeing things now? Why did he...?
...Oh.
A ring of mushrooms - small and almost hidden by the tall grass and ferns that were growing where they stood - sat proudly right where Neji landed. Or would have landed, had he not - Hinata felt a giggle rise up in her chest - gone to another realm.
Well, that was one problem solved. Though she really shouldn't just leave her insane cousin to Naruto to try and stop. She took a moment to wrap some gauze around the cut on her hand, then stepped into the circle after Neji.
She immediately noticed that she was falling, and prepared accordingly, rolling when she hit the ground but still managing to get the wind knocked out of her and wheezing when she'd regained her footing. Several feet away from her, Neji was prone on his back, bleeding from a cut on his head...and fading away!
Hadn't this been the reason she'd gotten her scars? Naruto had needed to bless her for her to be able to stay in this world. But he wasn't here right now! She didn't want Neji to stop existing!
'Please, please stay with me,' she thought, taking her cousin by the hand. 'Be okay, stay with me.' A dim memory of a kiss being needed came to her then, and she touched her lips to the unconscious boy, blinking in surprise when not only did his form regain tangibility, but the black marks from before began evaporating off his skin as well.
"Thank you, Naruto," she breathed, brushing her cousin's hair back and fussing over the cut on his temple some, trying to get the immense amount of bleeding to stop.
Unfortunately, Fate - and Hinata was beginning to agree with Neji in regards to how, for lack of a better word, bitchy it was - had other plans, and a roar shook the treebranches as soon as she'd relaxed. Neji stirred, eyes flickering open - "Hinata-sama?"
"We need to move," she said to him, another guttural sound almost drowning out her words.
The other Hyuuga got up and gave the area a scan with his Byakugan, inhaling sharply through his nose when he caught sight of their strange surroundings with the help of the jutsu. Thankfully, he showed no signs of wanting to attack her. Not even of remembering that he had been doing so just moments ago. "What is this place?"
"The spirit world," she replied. "I landed here on accident in my childhood. Though I was a lot safer than we are now. I don't recognize this place."
Kyuubi's lands had been forest, with lots of shrubbery and trees clumped together enough that seeing someone through them without Naruto's vulpine sense of smell or her special ability was close to impossible. This was more field, the trees scarce and far apart, but giant and gnarled where they actually existed. They were on the edges of a small crop of forest that stuck out conspicuously in the grasses. Both Hyuuga began moving inwards.
"You've...been here before?"
"Y-Yes," Hinata answered, peering around cautiously. "When I went missing for those few days. Do you remember?"
Neji nodded an affirmation. "Do you know what that noise is?"
"Nothing good. We need to get to my friends - if we're outside their lands, they can't do much to help us, and we won't be able to take on whatever it is in our condition."
"Yes," Neji said, touching his hand gingerly to where the cut on his head was finally clotting. "What happened to us?"
"You...don't remember? At all?"
"I remember Konoha was invaded."
"That was almost two months ago," Hinata said. "It's fine, you don't need to worry about it right now."
Another few seconds of silence and then a loud, angry roar - and out from between the bushes came the biggest living creature Hinata had ever seen. It sort of, but not quite, resembled a wolf - furry, gray and faintly dog-like in appearance. The fact that it was three times as tall as her sort of took away from the typical cute effect.
"Neither of us are in good enough condition to fight it!" called Neji. "Do you have a plan for dealing with something like this?"
Hinata gave the long, white fangs one glance and made a hand motion to retreat into the trees.
"Pray."
