Author's notes: Hello dears!
Yep.. I'm alive! Luckily, volleyball is not really that deadly no matter how many times I was hit by the ball. LOL. You know I tried to dodge as many as I could but it wasn't really dodgeball so I have to try catching it or I'll have no grade... hehehehe
Anyway... here's chappie 51... my promised song fic... I have been thinking a fitting song for this chappie and Miley's "Wrecking Ball" (A.S. Samawalk159 actually suggested it to me and at that time I thought it could be fitting) but change of plans... because some of the plot changed... ugh... I know I'm sorry... but I love "Frozen" and I'm a hardcore Lovatic... and I just saw how fitting this song is... so I chose "Let It Go"!
I've been thinking of this chapter since forever and when Demi released "Let It Go", I thought "WOW! THIS IS IT! THE SONG I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR!" And then Iloveallanime16suggested it and I was thinking "Gwarsh! Even dear readers are thinking same as me! OMG!"
But as a compensation for A. 159,(I hope this is enough)... I put the some of "Wrecking Ball"'s chorus as a calming song for Hinata... Please forgive me... if I didn't use "Wrecking Ball"... :(
Oh! And I have no idea if Hinata's mother is still alive so... she's dead here... LOL... and this happened after Tobi/Madara arc (don't know what it's called).. and if you find fault that it doesn't match up with the manga or the anime... take note that I wrote this before I read the actual war of Madara/Tobi vs Allied Shinobi Forces.. so they're not really parallel...
Anyway... so long of a A/U eh... sorry... it'll come soon... just a quick Thank you to everyone who read, reviews, follows and puts this story to their favorites! And also for following me and putting me to their favorites! I love you all guys and gals!
Disclaimer: I'd be dead if this won't be quick because I was out of for 2 weeks... so... I'd say straight away... I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. Or the song Let It Go by Frozen or Demi Lovato...
Chapter 51: Letting Go
"INO! INO!" Shikamaru shouted as he ran as fast as he can towards the shrieking sound.
His heart was beating so fast, and his muscles were tense. He felt all the fatigue left his body the moment he heard the scream. He dashed and shouted Ino's name over and over. He was frantic though there was a slight confusion to it as the voice becomes clearer to his head.
'It doesn't sound like Ino.' Shikamaru thought as he could hear the scream slowly fading. He knew he was near her, the voice's owner.
At that point, he just wants to find Ino. If that voice wasn't really Ino then thank heavens but they still have to move because that noise means someone's with them in this forest. It's better to just walk towards Konoha than stay. At least when they are near the gates they can easily ask for help if ever the assailant would attack.
Shikamaru stopped running. The scream... it... it stopped. He didn't even have a clue when it stopped. He felt sudden malaise. He anxiously tried to remember the direction of the voice when he caught the smell of something fragrant, a distinct smell of roses. Then his eyes caught sight of something near the bushes. Violet strings...
XxXxX
"*I came in like a wrecking ball. I never felt so hard in love. All I wanted was to break your walls, all you ever did was wreck me.*" Hinata sings as she walks towards bushes and hid herself.
Singing was one thing she learned from her mother. Singing is something that calms her but right now she feels so torn, confused, and angry that even her quiet singing to herself isn't helping. She can feel she was about to burst anytime if she won't let all the anger out.
"Ugh! What does Hanabi know anyway? And why am I bothered with what she said? I don't care, I don't care at all!" She said to herself as she clutched the grasses she had been sitting on for a while.
She closed her eyes and breathed in and out to calm herself. Suddenly, she saw glimpses of her childhood self. And she can't help but feel the sudden surge of desire to sing.
*Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore*
Her family. Her mother and father. Her sister, Hanabi, cradled in her arms. They seem so happy, how did they end up this way?
The clan. The clan that controlled all of their lives, her life. The clan that ruined everything. Why did the clan do it anyway? For power? For what?
* Let it go, let it go
Turn my back and slam the door*
Her family was torn because of the clan fights. Her mother died in the hands of another Hyuuga, for protecting her father; her father that seemed to show any emotion only when around her mother. Hinata can't remember exactly the event, but she can remember how broken her father was and how he had never returned back to what he was.
Being left to her father's wing and as the Hyuuga heiress, Hinata had to please everyone. She had to have manners and learn to fight briskly though all her efforts were naught and eventually her father neglected her and turned to Hanabi. She was then put to Koh's hands and eventually to Kurenai.
*The snow glows white on the mountain tonight,
Not a footprint to be seen.
A kingdom of isolation and it looks like I'm the queen.
The wind is howling like the swirling storm inside.
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried.*
Even with Hiashi's hopes for her were lost; the clan still eyed her with intense scrutiny. Every day, she received scorning of fellow members of the main house. She heard them talk behind her back and she knows for everyone in the clan, she was a disgrace.
*Don't let them in, don't let them see,
Be the good girl you always had to be.*
She was losing faith to herself until she found hope in Naruto. And since then he had secretly become her pillar, her guide, her inspiration. And slowly it grew more.
*Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know.
Well now they know.*
For once, Hinata was happy that most of the clan ignored her because she can finally get close to Naruto. But seeing herself as a disgrace, she was never one of the confident girls unlike Sakura and Ino.
But Hinata was a bright and powerful person hidden underneath. With Naruto and the few other people who genuinely cared for her, Hinata slowly came out of her shell.
*Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn my back and slam the door*
She was admired by most of the Branch Family after fighting with Neji. They especially adored her when she and Neji reconciled. Some time, Neji told her she was the hope of the branch family, just like what her mother once was. The branch family had become closer to her than the main family as the main house still sees her as a nuisance.
* And here I stand and here I'll stay
Let it go, let it go
The cold never bothered me anyway*
But she showed them her great abilities in Pain's battle. She saw the admiration she had been waiting and working for in her father's eyes.
*It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all.*
After the battle with Tobi and Madara, Hinata saw how her father changed. She soon saw the love she had been longing for. Her friends were always there for her. And she had finally been close to Naruto. It was pure bliss; she hoped and wished it to never end.
* Up here in the cold thin air I finally can breathe.
I know I left a life behind but I'm too relieved to grieve*
But then, everything has its end, even happiness. Grief took her over when she saw her father distanced himself away from her and at the end threw her out of the family. She hoped to run to her friends but they were all too busy with their own lives. And when she wanted even to lighten up her spark of hope with a glimpse of Naruto, she was crushed and trampled. For the first time in years, Hinata felt so cold. Not physically, no, but her heart, her life, it felt freezing cold. Even Sai, who caught her, felt cold.
Maybe that's why she was drawn to him. Hinata felt the same cold aura Sai possessed. Sai was the only person she now trusts and loves. They only have each other.
*Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn my back and slam the door
And here I stand, and here I'll stay
Let it go, let it go
The cold never bothered me anyway*
Her life before, she doesn't care anymore. She won't care anymore of what others think. Her life, with the absence of the warmth of care and love was cold but she doesn't care. She was used to it, living in a cold life for all her life though she never noticed before, it doesn't bother her anymore. The cold never bothered her anyway.
*Standing frozen
In the life I've chosen.
You won't find me.
The past is all behind me
Buried in the snow.*
For the years she had with Sai, they had formed a deep care for each other like brother and sister. She had his back and he had hers when they needed. She felt the freedom and the care she had been longing for with him. They're partners, they're best friends. They'll never leave each other even with the world against them.
* Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn my back and slam the door
And here I stand, and here I'll stay
Let it go, let it go
The cold never bothered me anyway, yeah, whoa
(Na na, na na, na na na na) [x4]*
She decided she just wants to get out of Konoha. Start anew with Sai. They don't need anything. The world can be chaotic for all they cared but she and Sai will not intervene. She and Sai will live away from anyone. That's it, they'll live right away.
* Let it go
Na, na, here I stand, let it go, let it go, oh
Let it go*
As Hinata stood up and walk away, a small white stuff fell on her hands. She looked up.
'Winter is coming. I and Sai need to move fast. Ayame and Teuchi will understand if we leave sooner.' She said, resolved in leaving Konoha and not caring about her past life anymore. The cold wind seems to grow colder as she walked towards their temporary home in Konoha.
XxXxX
'Violet strings?' Shikamaru thought anxiously. 'Where did this come from? Is this a trap?'
He looked everywhere for signs or anything at all but found none. Strange. Feeling a bit safer he approached the thing when he stepped at something.
"What's this?" Since it was dark, Shikamaru can only guess what he step at. "Probably mud."
Then there was a distinct smell of blood. And for a split second Shikamaru froze to his position and became wary of his movements. Then there it was again the smell of roses.
'Something's not right here.' He said as he approached the bushes more. His curiosity for the strings and the faint smell of blood despite the roses' distinct one was peeking in his mind.
"Shikamaru!" Shikamaru almost jumped at the sound of his name if relief wasn't flooding his whole system.
"Ino..." he called out as he stared at Ino's pale face. "You alright?"
"Yeah... I heard a scream. I knew it wasn't you cause that was a girl's scream. Then I heard you calling out for me so I ran. I left things at the camp. I... I don't think I want to go back though." Ino said and Shikamaru studied her face.
"When I heard that scream, I had a feeling that we should move away from here as quickly as possible. I know it's terrible of me to leave the source of that scream but I knew from that scream that she wasn't expecting someone to help her. It was a dying shriek Shikamaru. She was dying. Someone attacked her."
That's when Shikamaru saw Ino was trembling. He quickly pulled her in a hug to reassure her, him, both of them.
Rustle. Shikamaru stiffen. It was a faint sound. So faint that Ino's ninja hearing hadn't even heard it or maybe it's because Ino was too vulnerable to hear or feel anything at the moment. He tightened his hold on her.
"Ino..." For a strange reason, Shikamaru doesn't want Ino to hear about that sound. "Ino I think we should move now."
"But our things..." Ino tried to protest.
"Let them there... let's just get away from here." He saw guilt crossed Ino's face and he added, "I'm sure Naruto's barely holding it together. I think it's best if we are there for him when and if ever he shatter."
A/U: Thanks for the read! Care to leave a review?
This chapter did not go as I planned it to be... but I guess it is still an a-okay job... though I always think I don't do a great job on anything I do so I'm not a good judge of my own works...
Anyway.. sorry I was gone for 2 weeks... It was Prelim Exam last week.. and before that week, our major subjects bombarded us with loads of paperworks and quizzes so I have to say byebye to writing fictions and start reading IS books... sigh... I hope I passed my exam... hope with me please... *insert puppy dog eyes*
Anyway..this chapter is already long without A/U so I have to stop here... I do hope you like it though it's not much... Naruto and Hinata confrontation will happen soon! Are you excited? Hehehehe I am but I'm not sure if you guys will like it...
