That day and until night came, Naruto was assaulted with congratulations, festivities lasting all the way.
With a drink in his hand, he was making his way through the crowd, stopped here and there by people wanting to talk to him. He was looking for his two best friends and, unconsciously, for some well known bluish black hair. None were in the view. Instead, he observed Konohamaru in a corner, looking rather gloomy.
"Eh, Konohamaru, sad I was the one to take the Hokage hat?" he joked, approaching the younger man.
Konohamaru flinched, gotten out of his thoughts, then sobered again, "Iie, Naruto," he made an attempt to smile, but it was obvious he was trying hard. "Congratulation, by the way. Sorry for not showing much enthusiasm, but I am really happy for you. I just have... some things on my mind."
"Things you could share with me?" Naruto offered.
"Some other time, maybe," Konohamaru answered with a real smile, taking a drink from a waiter, " Tonight we're celebrating," he raised his drink in toast, as Naruto waved back to Sakura who, dressed in a beautiful red kimono and followed by a much better looking now Sasuke, seemed to had been looking for him, too.
She could barely remember afterwards whatever was it Neji told her on the way home. Though, she was thankful he did accompany her. She felt dizzy. She felt weak. As if the very first moment she'd be alone, she'd fall on her knees and lay there for eternity. She knew Neji was explaining how things had happened, or better said, how things had complicated in Hiashi's case, but she couldn't catch a single word. Sasuke and Sakura walked past them and she heard Neji saluting back, but that was all she could recall of that walk home.
Entering the house, she was once more alone. Neji might have told her the reason, but it was all an enigma for her why there was an obvious coolness between him and Hanabi, for each he preferred to not enter the house.
Stepping inside, it felt as if she entered a stranger's house. It seemed cold and empty and when she met Hanabi on her way and they just gazed at each other in silence for a short while before both to decide to follow their way just like that, it felt like she was abandoned on an iceberg in the middle of the ocean. It felt like there was nothing she could hang on to. Like she belonged to no one and nothing anymore. It was just her, alone.
Entering her room and closing the door behind her, she finally let herself fall to her knees, her arms hanging weakly. Tears, one after another, fell on the dark floor. Her mind went black and soon enough the rest of her body met the floor, too.
The next day she skipped eating. That was the beginning of a long lasting habit. She lost some weight in that period, but not really much, as the days she wouldn't eat at all, feeling sick, were mainly compensated by the days she'd eat constantly, trying to feel a void that was not in her stomach.
She went out the house only for her hospital shifts and spent the rest of the time alone in her room. Neji was not coming to the Hyuuga Manor anymore, so she didn't get to see him. She'd avoid Naruto if it happened for him to be in the hospital and never invited him to tea again. She trained sometimes, but nowadays she lacked the energy to do it for long. Her sister, the very and one and only Head of the family now, spent most of her time alone, too, with her work.
The little time Hinata spent outside, she wandered with no purpose through the trees, alone. She walked a mile, two, ten, until dark came or her feet's pain was as bad as to break through her indifference. Because all she got to feel was indifference. Her mind was in that state of depression when even the littlest thing seems to be a tragedy, so your brain, as defense to continuous trauma, closes your feelings in and becomes indifferent to anything. Hinata continued to work exemplary at the hospital, but she looked at her patients with the same amount of emotion as if they were a bunch of chairs.
That evening, it looked as if it was going to rain. Grey clouds coated the wide sky. But she didn't mind. As response to an impulse, she walked out the room as usual, not even considering getting more substantial clothing, and out the house, aiming the forest. It was late evening, sunset's light barely creeping in. Yet she walked out the house, not realizing it. Big drops started falling down, just a few at first, then filling the open air, falling down her skin, soaking her clothes. But she kept moving aimlessly, not giving a damn.
She was cold, shivering. She didn't know what path she was walking. She only looked down, following with her eyes the steps she was taking. Not counting or something. Just looking at her feet, not thinking of anything in special. At a corner of her eyes, she absently noticed a source of light that came and went. Probably a lightning.
Suddenly, her feet stopped. Her eyes widened, first time she observed something before her eyes that well. An edge. She walked until reaching the edge of a cliff. She stopped her walking just in time and just stood there, eyes widened, not moving a bit.
She had almost died. Just like that. Just that simple. Just a pure mistake. She took a step back and that was when reality hit her. It wasn't hurt anymore, just that general indifference she'd felt lately. And now it was indifference of life, of anything that might lie ahead, if ahead of her was there actually anything. There was indifference for family, for friends, for people in general, for the village and for the world (she took the step forward again), for the sun, the now hidden by grey clouds stars and for that damn lightning appearing again!
"Hinata-chan, what are you doing in the rain?"
She turned, surprised at first. After all, that was no lightning. It was Hiraishin.
"I walked too far from home and got caught outside by the rain," the lie came naturally and emotionless, not accompanied by a stutter, as normally around the blonde man before her. Those blue eyes meant as little as anything else to her at the moment. The man before her was just another chair, or rather a wall, a wall standing now between her and death, between her and freedom, between her and free death.
"But the rain has been going on for almost two hours. How far have you been and so late, Hinata-chan?" the man asked, concerned, yet oblivious to the truth connected to the girl standing alone, at night, at the edge of a cliff.
A soaked in water Sasuke came from the distance, reaching the Hiraishin in quite a little while, but panting and swearing, while the blonde was just perfectly alright.
"You kept me...huff...training almost two hours...huff...in the rain and... now you can't fucking...huff...wait for me...huff...too?" the raven haired muttered breathlessly.
"Well, you'll have to keep it alone from now, too, teme. I'll carry Hinata-chan home instead. She's freezing," Naruto replied and just then Sasuke also caught sight of the girl, standing there in the rain. His stare made Hinata think he saw some things past the freezing.
"Sure," he nodded, not taking his observing gaze off of her as he left alone.
In the meantime, Naruto took down his backpack and opened it, getting out his Hokage coat, which seemed dry, unlike all Naruto's clothes on him. He had probably kept that in a shelter as he and the other young man had trained, Hinata thought as she felt the dry, warm coat put on her shoulders. Just then she realized how cold she really was, starting to tremble visibly.
Naruto took her up and the next moment she saw things moving fast around her. Without realizing, she laid her head, which felt too heavy to hold anymore, on him.
The young man entered the Hyuuga property and climbed to the window she once told was her room and placed her easily on the bed.
"You look really tired, Hinata-chan, but you should still get up and change your wet clothes," Naruto advised her kindly, but the girl shook her head. She gave no damn. All she wanted was to be alone, "Well, you'll get sick, dattebayo," he said, covering her with anything he could fine and closing the window for now, "Is there anyone I could call to take care of you?"
"Don't. They must be sleeping. Everyone in this house goes to sleep early. Excepting Hanabi. But she has work to do," she answered automatically, in a weak voice.
"Ne, and what if you'll get a fever?" Naruto shook his head in disapproval, getting a chair and sitting next to the bed. "I'll stay here for a while to make sure you'll be ok. In case of anything, I get you to the hospital," he declared, crossing his legs on the chair.
"I haven't seen you in the last three months, Hinata-chan? How are you? I heard about Hiashi-sama's death just a couple of days after we came back. I'm really sorry for that. As Sasuke had once pointed out, I don't have the right to say I know how that feels. Because I didn't have parents to begin with and I don't know what losing them actually means. But I can realize it's tough."
Why was he talking about that? Why would he talk about it? Three months? There had been three months?
But she didn't want to talk. Not at all. Not about that. Not about anything. But Naruto kept talking. He comforted her for her loss, talked about his new job and said that new graduates would come out the academy soon and how he had to hold a speech. With no connection at all, he offered her to become sensei for one of the teams. She needed to occupy her time with things so she could feel better, he said. From time to time, he checked her forehead for fever. When his hand touched her skin, she felt her face warming up, like in the old days.
Slowly, his words started getting to her. His natural charisma made her feel relaxed, somehow relieved. His twinkling eyes were again breathtaking. And, at least for that night, things were good.
She fell asleep three hours into Naruto's monologue. He checked her forehead once more before getting out closing the window carefully behind him.
And all night long, the rain came down.
The next morning she woke up tired, but a bit more clear-minded than usual. But she wasn't well yet. She wasn't going to be really well until she found what she was looking for. And she had no idea what she was looking for. But training a Genin team was a good enough motivation for now.
Taking the coat that had covered her through the night, she headed to the Hokage tower to check the future Genin teams list.
A/N: What have I told you? Sasuke and Sakura everywhere! In case you thought I was joking. But, well, leaving that behind, this was a serious, serious chapter. I hope you won't like this less than my funny side. I updated quite fast again, but, again, I have no idea when further update might come next week. It seems the weekends are really productive, so probably next weekend?
PS: OH MY... HOLLY BABY JESUS! Almost 1000 views in one day? Thabk you so much, guys! You are so the best! I'm getting back to wrting so I could have some goody fresh updates next week's end. Many thanks again!