This is NOT the ending for Transparent...it just helps to clear out things like this and narrow out ideas sometimes. Putting scenes in a "Sundry of Snippets" is kind of therapeutic, like pruning a flowering bush and accidentally cutting off some of the blossoms, only to realize that they're kind of pretty and you don't want them to go to waste, so you put them in a vase...I'm sorry if that makes absolutely no sense, I'm half asleep and trying to type out Reluctant and was looking at past scenes. Plus I've been in school all summer and have managed to yet again drown myself in things to do, but an idle life is a bit boring isn't it?

So here's a little something to tide you over. Please enjoy my snipped off flowers!

The Path Towards the Sun

The cheers were deafening as the sun broke through, chasing away the red and gray that had permeated the world. The alliance breathed a tangible sigh of relief, a shiver and loosening up of every muscle and joint spreading through the field. There had been a heavy loss, and the overall feeling was bittersweet as sobs and laughs echoed through, every peak and valley of human emotion mingling in a strange combination.

Naruto felt…light, inexplicably light, as he turned towards his comrades. He felt them all, the Konoha Thirteen…alive and breathing. He saw Sasuke to his left and flashed him a small smile, a subtle exchange that carried such a depth of meaning that only the two of them could understand. His friend and he turned towards the girl…the transparent little being that had saved them all.

The girl who only they could see. Or at least that was how it seemed, but as the sun began rising, its rays brushing through, gently pushing against the dark and illuminating everything.

Sakura gasped as she came into view, her ankle length silvery strands waving in the slight breeze, her smile bright and her eyes white.

And a name fell gently, sweetly onto the tip of her tongue. And as she tried to grasp it in her mind, it came softly, kindly…leaving a feeling just as warm and pleasant as the sun's newly risen rays.

"H-Hinata?" She asked, the tears falling as she remembered things that should not have been in her memory. A shared timidity, lazy days spent in the flower fields, a warm and tiny shoulder always there to lean on…

The softest smile crossed the Hinata's face, and she nodded, her eyes shining and her giggle as familiar to Sakura as the ribbon carefully tucked away underneath her vest.

And one by one, those nearby began murmuring as they saw the strange girl all in white, wondering as to just when she had appeared. The Konoha Thirteen approached first, and one by one, Hinata saw the recognition dawning in their gaze, the confusion and the memories swirling through the stream of time.

And her smile grew bittersweet as she felt a tug somewhere at the back of her soul.

'Just a little bit more time…please.'

The tug felt sharper, a flare of pain spread through her chest and she stumbled forward.

"Hinata?!" Naruto shouted, running forward to catch her, just as everyone caught up with their returned memories. She was trembling, her thin frame so small and delicate in his hands, and he noticed just how much thinner she seemed than the last time. Her face was pale, and the white of her hair only served to make her look ghostly.

He was torn. Torn between the varied emotions ripping through him, and then she looked up at him, a small smiling gracing her face, the pain obvious in her gaze. He gritted his teeth, because it was over. She had said that if they defeated Madara, everything could stay.

Her hand reached up to touch his face, tracing the whiskers and gently smoothing away any dirt. Her eyes shone with love and acceptance, and…completion.

"H-hey Hinata! We won! We did it…" He started, seeing her feeling slightly better. His arms reached to wrap around her, as if he could not be close enough to her.

Hinata's cheeks felt warm, and she felt his tears falling into her elaborate kimono, the heavy silk absorbing the drops until they disappeared. She continued caressing his hair, and pulled back. He looked up in surprise, and that was when he noticed it.

What he had thought was merely the sun shining on her hair, making it glint a brilliant silver was actually Hinata's own light. And the tiny motes of herself were floating upwards gently, to the blue sky, following the sunbeams to a place where he could not go.

His eyes widened in horror. "N-No…No…NO!"

Everyone watching stilled at his protests. They watched confused as he gripped her tighter. Then it became clear as the light grew brighter, the motes increasing and Hinata's lengthy hair began to fade.

Then she turned towards the others gazing up at them in dawning comprehension. She cried, her tears floating around her like tiny glass planets, and she smiled. Kiba and Shino stepped forward, ready to seize her into their grasps, the missing friend they had all forgotten.

Ino thought of days pressing flowers and chatting about their meanings.

Tenten thought about nights drinking tea and laughing at the absurdities of Neji and Lee.

Neji…grasped at his empty forehead where a mark had once been. His teeth grit as he thought of the beloved little sister who had never been gone from his memories, leaving a space so empty and dark it had eaten away at his sanity. She was real. He had not dreamt her up.

And Sasuke looked on in slight sadness, feeling as if some shared secret that only he and Naruto had been privy to had been let out, and was now being destroyed because of it.

"I am…so happy, here with all of you." She finally said, her sobs stopping the flow of her words. There was so much she wanted to say, but so little time. And it seemed absurd to her that even though she had had enough lifetimes, enough chances to say what she wanted to, here she was now wishing for more.

But this was it…'1'

She looked on in curiosity, and somewhere in the vicinity where her heart had once been, she felt a strange twinge. Then the drip…drip of water on thick fabric had her still in shock. Kaguya's tears fell as liquid silver, for the first time in a long time feeling sorrow for another.

"You're lives are precious, precious things. All of you fought so hard, lost so much, just to live, to see the sun again. Right?"

They agreed silently, and some nodded.

"So I entrust this world, this life to you all. With the same gentleness, the same welcome that you all showed me, many, many different times…with the same patience and friendship…treat your future and fellow humans with the same care."

The sobbing was growing, the keening and the goodbyes on trembling Lips was too much for her and she looked down at her translucent hands, realizing she had run out of time.

Bringing her fingers up to her mouth, she smiled, indicating that they should too.

"Let's all walk the path towards the sun with a smile!" She cheered, the tears running down and the motes increasing exponentially. She turned to look over her shoulder at a shaking Naruto, his hands clenching at his inability to save her.

"I will walk towards you, Naruto-kun because it is you who is my sun." She muttered, so that only he could hear. She took small steps, the task becoming more difficult as she lost her very self, and he saw her breaking herself just to reach him.

"HINATA!"

He rushed towards her, his embrace knocking what little air she had left in her lungs. It was strange really, this disappearing thing. 'More like not existing…'

He refused to listen to her calm words, to her acceptance. She had chosen this path, because it would save them all. She was happy though, she wanted to say. But he would not listen.

"Hinata! You are not leaving me, not again!" He shouted at her, his hold tightening as if it could stop the pieces of her from floating away.

He was silenced by her lips against his. The soft sigh of contentment floating through her being resonated with him, and he felt it. Her goodbye…Then she pulled away to quickly, his shock allowing her to step out of his embrace and lightly hold his hands in hers.

She looked up and smiled again, as always. "Thank you…Naruto-kun…for seeing me…for finding me when no one else could. Thank you for loving me the way you did."

"Hinata…w-why?! You..you said…" He started, the tears choking his words.

"And If I had to live a hundred lives over, I would fall in love with you each and every time." She stated confidently, happily, with the air of one simply stating something indisputably true and constant.

"I love you, Naruto Uzumaki."

The sun rose fully over the mountains, a bright new day greeting them, and in its rays she felt embraced, comforted. Or was that Naruto's warmth?

"Hinata…stop it!?

A peaceful sort of tiredness seemed to engulf her and her eyes slid shut as the rest of her disappeared, her last smile wide and sincere as she mouthed the three words again to him.

'I love you.'

Then in a bright light she was gone; only a few motes of beautiful light left in the wake of her disappearance.

"HINATA!"

The cry echoed across the valley, the survivors wondering why the name left an ache in their hearts and time did not shift. The world would continue to turn, even as its transparent savior no longer existed.

I can not explain anything...even if this is not the real ending, there might be spoilers? I think...