Prologue
Hinata wept softly, her tears blending with the softly pattering rain as they fell on the fresh grave. She had cried more in the past few days than she ever had in her life, yet still the tears continued to come, hot and fast.
She knew that she should pull herself together, that she should be strong and keep living. That was what Naruto would have wanted, but she didn't know how to do it. She didn't know how to be strong when the one she had struggled and fought to become strong for was gone. He had left her, taking with him her heart, her strength, her soul, her everything.
She was merely a shell now, a hollow husk of her former self. She was alive, yes, but not really living. Her life had ended with Naruto's that day. She pulled out a polished kunai from her weapons pouch, holding it up so tired, swollen eyes stared back at her. It would be so easy to end it all. Just one clean slice and all of the pain and grief would disappear…
She raised the kunai to her neck, but a soft whine made her pause. A dog stood watching her, holding a lily in his mouth. He was large, though not as large as Akamaru, and she could see his ribs through a mangy coat of fur. A stray, no doubt. She stayed very still as the dog padded over to her and laid the flower gently in her lap. He then raised soulful blue eyes to hers and whined again.
"Hinata, can you promise me something…?"
The words echoed in her mind as clearly as if Naruto had been there saying them himself. With an anguished cry, she dropped the kunai and threw herself onto the ground. She couldn't do it. It didn't matter if it tore her soul apart, she couldn't go back on her word. That was her nindo—the nindo she shared with Naruto. If she broke it, it would be the same as saying that she didn't deserve to stand by his side.
A fragile seedling of resolve formed in her heart as she placed the lily lovingly on the grave. Repocketing the kunai, she painstakingly picked herself up and brushed the dirt from her skirt. Doing the same for her heart wouldn't be such a simple feat, but she would try.
For Naruto, for the man she loved more than her own life, she would try.
Author's Note: Hey guys! Welcome to my shiny new Naruto story. Fair warning—this one's going to be a tearjerker. I've already finished the writing process, so I'll be updating daily. Stay tuned for tomorrow's chapter, and until then, please leave a review to let to me know what you think!