Author: Thank you all for your reviews, as a treat here's a relatively early update.

Chapter 10- Paradise Lost

Lightning sparks through the sky, thunder roars though the air. Hitsugaya brings his sword down, piercing the body, drawing blood.

Naruto is on both knees and one hand, Hitsugaya looks on at the scene. Somehow Naruto was able to move himself over Hinata, the sword went through his back on one side and a hand is holding the blade tight just before it even touched her. The rain just keeps coming down, it has hard to tell whether it was the rain or if Naruto was really crying. The blond boy coughed out blood beside Hinata's body, his blood on the sword dripping onto her jacket.

Hitsugaya pulled out his sword, Naruto winced as he regained balance. The swordsman swung it hard to get rid of the blood on the blade. (He had no strength to move. He moved here through sheer will?)

Naruto struggles to stay up. He looks at Hinata, smiling as either rain or tears roll down his face. With one hand, he strokes her face gently, "Hi-na-ta…"

With the last of his energy gone, he fainted. All the while Hitsugaya looks at them, lightning crashing in the distance.

Neji, Tenten, Shino and Kiba race through the forest as fast as they can. Tenten notices the tears running down Neji's cheeks, she has never seen him like this before. She begins to shed tears of her own, hoping that he, Hinata and Naruto will be okay.

The forest ends, a clearing makes itself known. They can all see the cliff that ends the clearing before them.

"Look!" Shino pointed.

They all turned to see the body of the kidnapper, the one that led the woman and the white haired kid. There he lay, at the center of a pool made of a familiar red liquid.

"Where's Hinata?" Kiba asked.
"Over there!" Neji ran off closer to the cliff, the rest followed.

They got closer to see Hinata's jacket, overjoyed that she's alright. They all ran closer to the glorious view. However, they froze, underneath the jacket was a very bloody Naruto, very still, unmoving. Hinata's jacket was merely placed on top of him, Hinata herself was nowhere to be found.

"Hinata-sama, it can't be," Neji dropped on both knees, even more water flowed down his face. "HINATA-SAMA!" He dropped on his hands, rain and tears hitting the ground below him.
"Neji…" Tenten looks at her partner, worried about him and Hinata.

"W-we can still…" Neji picked himself up, he ran towards the cliff edge.
"Neji stop!" Tenten yelled out.

In an instant a fist gutted Neji, knocking him out. Kakashi grabbed him as he fell, "I'm sorry, there's no way we can find him like this."

"Kakashi," Shino was the first to speak. "What do we do now?"
"This mission…" Kakashi began. "As much as it pains me to say it, has failed. Asuma and his team are bringing Gai, Lee and Kurenai back to Konoha as we speak. Someone take Neji, I'll carry Naruto."

Kiba and Shino go forward to takes Neji. They and Tenten leave Kakashi as he picks up his student, "Kuchiki Byakuya, missing nin from the land of Lost Heaven. From what I heard of his powers, I don't think even I would've stood a chance. Yet Naruto… Whenever his friends are in danger, he already makes the impossible possible.

This is something else entirely, to defeat someone like Byakuya. You wanted to save Hinata even more so then when you chased Sasuke. Naruto…"

Kakashi puts Hinata's jacket on Naruto to protect him from the rain as the boy's own clothes were almost non-existant. He carried his student away and heads back to Konoha.

Night time was quiet. The rain had stopped long before, with the sky clearing at night fall. The stars and moon shone down on the forest, creating glitters all around with the drops of water scattered throughout. It was a sight to behold indeed, the glowing stars the shining forest. Hitsugaya sat awake, staring at his mission objective.

He had placed his white vest on top of her to keep her warm, being an ice user he's comfortable with the cold. She stirred, the sleeping spell had run its course. She got up and rubbed her eyes with a yawn. The girl shivered a little, realizing she didn't have her coat and that it had rained, so she put the boy's jacket around her.

Looking around Hinata finds that it was just her and the boy she spoke with earlier. There wasn't even a fire, even her coat disappeared. But what she could see, is that the boy had sad eyes, she dared not speak to him at this moment.

It was he that spoke first, "You want to know what happened right?"

Without making a sound, she nodded.

"The rescue team came after us. They killed my captain and my teammate, that leaves only me."
"I-I'm sorry, it's my fault isn't it?"
"If anyone should be sorry it's me," he told her. "The rescue was made up of your friends and a relative. They fought hard, harder then I thought possible to save you. I decided to leave your coat behind, so that they will at least have a little of you left, even when you die."

Hinata began to worry some more, her friends did come after her then. But they failed, that could that they're…

"They're still alive," he reassured her. "However…" He draws his sword and points it to her. "Don't think you'll escape me. I'll deliver you myself, with or without your co-operation."

The hostage stays silent, the swordsman puts his sword away.

"I had to retreat because I was the only one left, that and I ran out of chakra. I told you what had happened, but there is one thing you should really know."

Hinata was relieved to hear about her friends, now she listens to Hitsugaya's words curious about what he's going to say to her.

"I was certain all of us were Jounin level, that changed when we battled them. My captain, Byakuya, is the strongest of the three of us. He was killed by only one of your friends, a Genin killing a missing nin. That boy was fighting to get you back, that was the only thing on his mind. He even gave me his name before losing all of his power, Uzumaki Naruto."

Hinata's head started to feel very warm, turning red. Her heart beats faster. Hitsugaya looks away to stare the forest's dancing lights.

"He stopped at nothing to save you, even risking his own life. That Naruto really cared for you Hinata."
He heard a light rustle. Turning back to her, she seemed to have mysteriously fallen. "Aparently, you have some feelings for him too."

Hitsugaya stares back towards his surrounds, the glittering lights were the last he saw before going to sleep. Soon the girl will die, or perhaps she's already dead...

Naruto runs as fast as he could. He found Hinata incased in a cube of ice. As he calls out to her, a giant dragon of ice drops from the sky and swallows her whole.

"HINATA!" Naruto suddenly got up, surprising Sakura. He looks around, he was in a hospital all bandaged up. Outside it was all cloudy. "Sakura, how's Hinata?"

Sakura turned away quietly. Naruto, still in pain, opens the window and is about to jump out.

"No Naruto don't!" Sakura cried, she grabbed him from behind and held him back.
"Let go of me Sakura, I have to go get Hinata back!" Naruto struggled to break free through his pain.
"Naruto listen to me," Sakura's voice started to shiver a little. "It's been three days."

Naruto suddenly stopped moving and sat back down on the bed, Sakura pulls him closer as water forms in her eyes, "Tsunade had half of ANBU looking for her, all they found was one of their groups frozen in ice. Kakashi said that the boy would've made it back to Lost Heaven by now."

She couldn't hold in her emotion any longer, she let it all out on his back, her tears and her voice. "They're-they're declaring her dead."

Naruto's eyes widened as Sakura returned to her seat, her eyes overflowing.

He turned to her slowly, "That can't be! There's no way Hinata is dead, its just… not possible…"

He bowed his head, Sakura could see drops of water flowing down his face and dripping to the blanket. "The Hyuuga's are going to hold a funeral for-for Hinata tomorrow," she told him in the strongest voice she can. "Normally only clan members are allowed. They're making an exception for her, you-you don't have to come Naruto."

"She's not dead…" Naruto's tears continued to fall, he tried to hold them back but he couldn't. "She's not…"

Unable to see him like this anymore, Sakura quietly left the room.

"HINATAAAAAAAAA!"

Author: Ever heard of a Red Herring? That's what I just did with my previous chapter.

Hinata has been lost to them, there is nothing they can do about that. Naruto was hit the hardest by this loss, all of his efforts, everything he had, it still wasn't enough. (Insert In The End by Linkin Park) What is going to happen to them now?

Meanwhile, Hitsugaya is still returning to the land of Lost Heaven with the mission objective. Who is the client? You'll find out in the next chapter.