Hinata lay in bed for hours.

For the past several evenings, a cool front had blown through Konoha; however, that weather had passed, and a gorgeous evening settled on the quiet shinobi village. The windows of the Uzumaki residence were left open, in celebration of the lovely night air.

It was very late; the stars shone through the window, painting a vivid portrait against the black velvet. Hinata stared out the window, allowing her mind to drift, her emotions to surface.

Sleep eluded her tonight. For the past several days, exhaustion had overcome her; but today—tonight—she was abandoned; alone with her thoughts, no task to distract her. No one to comfort her. She was alone.

Truly alone.

How could the world continue? If he was gone, why was she left? How did the sun stay in the sky, when his smile would never appear again? She didn't comprehend a world without him. A world that was so cold—so cold…

She trembled; the intensity of her emotions chilled her.

Pulling her blanket around her, she rose and walked to the window sill. She stared out at the midnight sky. The darkness was so complete, she fancied it would swallow her.

Her despair enveloped her; she closed the window, locking it tight.

She settled back into the mattress. Her shinobi instincts blocked the steady assault of her emotions. Shinobi are tools of war; without need of emotions.

Unspoken, unwanted, uncontrolled—her tears flowed freely from her closed eyes as she drifted into the realm of dreamless sleep.

A/N: it's a short chappy; I know, I'm sorry about the delay.

EDIT: oops. It seems that I forgot to thank my reviewers this time...hehe, I'm sorry!! thanks to Maresia Eterna, Vld, anidragon77, shibby84, quicksilv, and raikiri1991.

Waahh!! there are only like two chapters left!

please review.

oh yeah...I was going to put this in the last chapter. It's about the jinchuriki girl...

Age: roughly six or seven.

Hair: a sort of auburn reddish brown...

Eye color: lilac to dark purple

Odd feature(s): a long scar under her left eye; slanted eyes

Of note: her biju is the biji--the two tails or cat demon. Don't look at me like that--if you've read the latest chapters of the manga you'll know that the biju is...fair game, so to speak. Remember, in this story Akatsuki has been disbanded for almost ten years.